Comment Print Email

January 25. 2012 6:00AM

Brandon Valley Superintendent Dave Pappone said the district may have to make cuts as the school board creates the 2012-13 budget this spring. Enrollment will determine budget priorities, he said. As enrollment grows in the elementaries, staff needs to be added and other things may need to go. “As you look at the big picture, something else has to give,” he said.

But while the school board will be challenged to fund all staff and programs for the next school year, the economy isn’t as bleak as a year ago, and that makes District Business Manager Paul Lundberg optimistic.

He said this year’s five-year projections show the district’s cash flow declining, but at a much slower rate than projections showed last year.

“Our position is much better today than it was a year ago,” he said. “This year, in my opinion, is very strong, positive.” In the 2013-14 school year, all the capital outlay debt will be paid off, freeing up money for projects, Lundberg said.

Each year, Lundberg tries to predict the next five year’s worth of income and expenses for the school district. He looks at four areas: staffing, enrollment, curriculum and facilities and equipment. He looks at past experience, enrollment numbers, trends, new laws and other information to arrive at his predictions, which are just that, he said. “Remember, they’re just projections,” he told the school board.
“They’re not in any way, shape or form written in stone.”

For example, he is predicting 100 to 115 new students in the district next year, but he will have a more definite number in March after kindergarten screenings. He said 2014 will be the first big year of a real big graduating class, so he is predicting a drop in enrollment for the following year.

Board president Jean Bender asked Lundberg to prepare scenarios of how various levels of all-day kindergarten would affect the district’s budget and cash flow. He said he would present those numbers at an upcoming meeting.

Lundberg said the five-year plan is a useful tool, even if much of it is based on educated guesses. “Try not to look at the short term,” he told the board. He advised board members to always keep in mind how their decisions will affect the district four or five years down the road, or more.

“I do find it very helpful to look at the five-year plan from year to year,” Bender said. “It helps you to keep your eye on the future.”

In other business:

• Operations Manager Todd Williams said the district does its best to maintain a 68-degree temperature in buildings in the winter and 78 degrees in the summer. He said staff has been making adjustments in the high school, especially. It is an older building that can have drafts, he said. “We found a lot of wind blowing through some areas,” he said. “We’ve filled a lot of holes. He said the temperature policy applies to offices as well as classrooms.

• Pappone said the Eastern South Dakota Conference will remain as is for now. ESD superintendents had considered asking Meade County (Sturgis) and Harrisburg to join, but the idea didn’t have enough support. At some point, Harrisburg will grow to an AA school, though. When that time comes, Pappone said he didn’t anticipate opposition to Harrisburg joining the ESD.
TO LEARN MORE
See details of the Brandon Valley School District’s five-year plan by visiting brandonvalleyschools.com. Click on “central administration” then “business office.”